


The Bandstand

by gabsmatos, Redboozter



Category: Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Good Omens Secret Santa, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-04-21 08:34:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22055998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gabsmatos/pseuds/gabsmatos, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redboozter/pseuds/Redboozter
Summary: After the meeting at the Ritz, after almost Armageddon, Crowley and Aziraphale didn't meet again.Time passed until a chance meeting took place at the Bandstand.Place that brings many good and bad memories for both.Roleplay adaptation.
Relationships: Aziraphale & Crowley (Good Omens), Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)
Kudos: 11





	The Bandstand

After all the happiness, relief, and post-almost-Armageddon celebrations that had been shunned by everyone's efforts, the last memory Aziraphale kept of Crowley was that meeting at the Ritz. The "To the world" moment full of meaningful glances.

The toast still flashed through his memories as a kind of comforting moment - in which he thought everything would be different between them - while Crowley wasn't there. However, it hadn’t happened as he had dreamed.

It was as if they had come back to living as before, each one taking care of their own business and having long periods without seeing each other. Aziraphale didn’t have the habit of harassing Crowley for no clear reason. And there was nothing urgent to deal with.

Therefore, he didn’t call, or made empty invitations to the Demon. All he could hope for was that, by some chance, Crowley would appear out of the blue as a miracle, to invite him for lunch, or maybe showing up at his store for a quick visit.

Crowley might have decided to take a nap for the next 10 years after so much trouble. It was just a nap, compared to the many centuries without seeing each other they spent in the past. The time was different for them, but right now Aziraphale was very anxious for that to change.

When he missed Crowley, the Angel often ended up going alone to places they used to go together. After wandering around most of the day looking for some precious books for his infinite collection, Aziraphale changed his route and instead of returning to the store, he headed for “one of three meeting places” and perhaps the most full of bittersweet memories.

He gripped the books with one arm and ran his fingers slowly over the white wood, remembering when they were last there. His eyes softened in mild sadness at the thought of what had been said, especially what he had said to the Demon.

A mixture of anxiety, surprise, and joy filled him as he realized that, incredibly, Crowley was there too, but apparently unaware of his presence.

Sitting on the other side of the bandstand, secretly Aziraphale's favorite spot, the Demon had a few empty bottles of wine next to him and was certainly not completely sober. The Angel felt butterflies in his stomach, which was typical of lovers, when he realized that he would have to talk to him. Running away would be too much in the face of such a push of fate to see each other again.

He walked some more and, not wanting to scare the other, spoke in a low tone a little behind him, using a friendly voice. "Crowley, oh my God, what a coincidence, I didn't expect to see you here..." The Demon would recognize his voice for sure.

Crowley was startled to hear the Angel so close. It was the last person who he wanted to see in that moment of weakness. His hands went to his eyes rubbing them frantically under his glasses.

"Aziraphale." He said seriously sniffling and forcing his voice out normal when it wanted to go hoarse. "I usually come here when I want to be alone..." He pointed to the bottles still not looking at Angel "And drink, as you can see."

He looked at him, his face pale and expressionless. "And you? What are you doing here?" He returned the question.

Aziraphale felt invading Crowley's private space when he spoke that way. That he was there to be alone. However, at the same time, he was extremely dismayed. Crowley seemed to be suffering and he didn't know what he could do.

"I ... I like this place, I always have. I come here from time to time. It brings me memories..." Said the Angel with a smile that slowly faded.

"How have you been? I missed hearing from you..." He said as he walked in front of his friend. Were they still friends?

"Bad memories I suppose..." the Demon said seeming infinitely hurt. He sighed looking down again. Why did Aziraphale like to go to a place where the two fought and broke up? Would he have liked what happened?

"Not very well, as you can see." Said the Demon with a contained anger... A deep wound inside him that alcohol couldn’t heal or ease the pain.

"Lonely." He said watching him approach. "As expected." Crowley smiled bitterly. He knew this was how he would end after their battle was over.

"You?" He looked at him coldly. The Demon imagined that Aziraphale was happy and having fun ... Being dear to everyone, as an Angel is.

"No ... not exactly. Memories of you." Aziraphale said with a slight shrug, as if telling nothing the other couldn’t deduce. Even in bad times, he still missed him.

"I'm sorry to hear that, dear Crowley ..." Why? Why did he still get away from everything if now all they had was each other and the Earth?

"I ... I think I'm fine ..." He forced a smile. "Keeping myself busy ... Can I sit down and have some wine with you?" He risked, even fearing to be rejected.

Crowley just nodded. He knew what memories they were, because they were the same as his own.

"Of course." He said sitting down and making room for the Angel to sit too, keeping some distance from him.

"No worries. It's alright." He said taking a huge sip of his wine and passing the bottle to the other without facing him.

Aziraphale sat down, trying to accommodate the books on his lap, out any harm and thanked him, taking the bottle and taking a sip. He smiled and returned it.

"So, what happened? Long time no see... You never called… Long time I don’t hear about you…" Wouldn't they see each other ever again? Was that it? The end of the line…? The Angel's mind struggled with confused ideas.

"Why didn't _you_ come to see me?" Crowley said more exasperated "Throughout the ages it was me who was after you, always... When it’s my turn to wait for you to appear, you just ..." He said and looked down taking the bottle sharply from his hand and taking a sip. Heartache evident.

It was obvious the Angel had more to do than worry about a lonely Demon. He wiped the corner of his mouth with his hand, trying not to show how much he missed his Angel. "Of course, you should be busy with your books ..." he pointed at his lap.

"I-I didn't mean to bother you. I'm just not used to it. I could come at a bad time, inappropriate, piss you off, I don't know ..." Aziraphale said defensively, but that was all he believed when Crowley decided to disappear. That he wanted to be alone and the Angel would have to respect that.

"Why didn't you appeared? I ... I missed you ..." He looked to the Demon, a little embarrassed to admit it. "But yes… I was afraid I wouldn't want to go back."

"Bother me?" Crowley frowned at that "Aziraphale you're the _only_ friend I have, I don't get anyone's visit." his voice was breaking as he roared the truth "I have no company but my plants, I get no calls but annoying people trying to sell me insurance policy ..." He stood up more angrily, he hated being a Demon, a loathed , a forgotten one.

He heard the Angel missed him and his heart ached even more. "Did you really? Loving all things like a good Angel? Making people happy with miracles here and there and dealing with customers in your bookstore? Buying more rare volumes for it?" he said through his teeth, forcing himself not to let his tears fall.

"You say you missed me and came right here, where we both broke up in a fight that I never forgot how it hurt me and-" He noticed he was talking too much and just stopped gesturing taking another sip of wine. Stupid drunk talker. Why was it so hard to just admit that he missed him too? But didn't talk to him anymore for fear of rejection?

"Face it, Aziraphale, you have more to do than think of me, you have friends, reading, food, and tidying up your bookstore to fill your time ..." he sighed, turning his back on the Angel.

"Alright ... Forgive me. I don't want to fight." As Aziraphale approached a little, he saw the Demon rise and followed after him, as if trying to take care of him, preventing a vase from breaking or similar analogy.

It wasn’t his fault to be an Angel. Or that Crowley wasn’t one anymore. Having friends or things to do, didn't mean he didn't miss him. "Crowley .... No need to talk like that. I come here because it's one of _our_ meeting places, it reminds me of you ... it reminds me of us both. It reminds me that even when we were hurt and saying rude things to each other, we never stopped feeling ... what we feel ... "

"All these things in life don’t matter if you're not there to share them with me ..." He said sweetly, trying to touch the Demon's shoulder. There were so many things he wanted to say.

Crowley had his back to him still, avoiding the Angel at all costs. His little outburst had hurt Aziraphale for sure, but he couldn't help his pain oozing from him. Crowley just didn’t want his Angel seeing him like that.

He was startled having his shoulder touched and stiffened. "You're just talking..." he whispered, his voice impossible to hide his sorrow. "Being here just reminds me where I should be ... Far away from you so as not to ruin your happiness." He said drinking the rest of the bottle and throwing it away on the grass.

"After all ... It was you who said that we aren’t friends, that you don't even like me ..." Now it was alcohol that made him have the courage to put his pain out. The words he was never able to forget.

He couldn’t turn and face the Angel. It was hurting so much. He was petrified. "Why are you telling me all this now?" he asked in a whisper. Did he really want to share moments with him? Or Azirphale was simply saying that to make him feel better? He was an Angel .... That’s what Angels do.

"You never messed up. I'm grateful that you have been in my life since the beginning. You know that without you I wouldn't have been able to avoid the end of the world. Without you I would have discorporated several times. Ah ... Crowley ... You just did me good, you just can't see it ... And I was lying, lying because I was afraid, because I wanted to keep my Angelic status, because I believed in silly things that wouldn't really make me happy. I’m not lying now. I'm happy when you're with me." He said it all at once, as he said things when he reached his limit.

"Look at me, please..." he asked. The Angel was on the verge of tears just like the day he had lied that he didn't like him. "There are things I need to say ... because there's still time. We're still here. _Please Crowley_."

Crowley silently turned around and faced the Angel. He swallowed, the obvious tears streaming down his cheeks, under the glasses he refused to take off. "Tell me." He said simply staring into his eyes.

"I ... I'm listening ..." He decided to let his walls fall for a moment and really hear him without anger and without the tangle of feelings that swept his chest and shattered it.

A voice in his head kept saying it was all a lie ... that he deserved no happiness, be with someone, much less the love of Aziraphale. Angels can't lie ... Why would he be telling the truth now ...?

"That day at the Ritz I thought it was all very obvious, very right. I saw the way you looked at me. And I know I looked at you the same way. Don't deny that you can understand. I've been looking at you like that for a long time. " Aziraphale bowed his head, letting some tears flow.

"I thought we'd be together. But maybe it was a childish fantasy ..." He said in a choked voice.

Crowley just sniffed. "I never understood what I felt ... when I saw your eyes resting on mine for too long." He bit his lip hard. "I thought so too, Aziraphale ... There was only one person I wanted to be with after the end of everything." he said sincerely and sobbed.

"Was it just shared looks?" he said removing his glasses showing all the pain from his golden reptilian eyes to his Angel. He dropped it to the floor. No need to hide himself behind those lens anymore.

"Please tell me they weren't just looks, Zira." He asked with a broken voice but with a hint of hope still. There had to be something else ... It wasn’t possible.

"No" Aziraphale shook his head vigorously, looking back at the Demon. "It wasn't just looks..." He approached praying God not to be turned away by his attitude and put his hand on the Demon's chest.

"I think I love you, my dear..." He confessed, feeling the world stop as he waited for a response from Crowley.

Crowley felt his heart quicken and hurt with the sudden relief. He bit his bottom lip ... "I always thought it was... I just ... I denied it." he said simply by placing his hand over the Angel's one on his chest "It always beats like this when you’re around, Angel." He forced a smile. Even not understanding what that meant, it only happened with Aziraphale.

His other hand went to his waist, not very gently pulling him close, as if the Angel would disappear at any moment. Now he was really desperate and a bit possessive.

"I know I drank, and it wasn't a little." He said looking him in the eye. His other hand went to his face wiping the Angel's tears. "If you want I can sober up..." Maybe this way Aziraphale would believe what he was saying.

Aziraphale smiled through his tears at the other's gesture, feeling his own heart pounding. They were so close that he could barely stand to wait for the Demon to confirm what had been said indirectly while drunk, though he still wanted to hear. He could smell the other’s alcoholic breath and didn't care.

"If you find it necessary ..." He said anxiously, as close to Crowley as he had ever been.

Crowley immediately in a slight snap of his fingers was free of the alcohol in his body. He blinked a few times to make sure it was all right and the 5 bottles were full again. He looked ahead and found his Angel, now in a less blurred image.

His two hands went to either side of his face and he just pressed his lips to the Angel's, now tasting no alcohol. It was the way he knew how to show love. Through action.

He broke the kiss, breathing heavily trying to contain himself. It was a chaste simple kiss, but full of meanings, in a place equally full of memories. "_I missed you too_." he said in a whisper closing his eyes. "_I’ve missed you for 6 thousand bloody years_." One more tear fell stubbornly.

Aziraphale got lost after the kiss and the way he put things. He hugged the Demon tightly and couldn't help but reflect on what he said. Crowley had loved him well before he himself could understand how he felt about the Demon. In addition, he was the Angel there. He kissed the other again and murmured an "I love you" amid the touch of lips.

"Can we go home now, my love? I promise to hold you in an everlasting embrace for all we haven’t lived in these 6000 years ..." He spoke softly.

Crowley just smiled at the Angel and returned the hug with the same intensity and affection. He didn't remember the last time he was hugged like that. He sighed with relief. The Demon tried to return the "I love you" but ... He still couldn't. It would come with time. However, he knew that definitely Aziraphale could feel his love oozing. He couldn’t lie his true feelings.

"Let's go home." He said simply as if they lived together and grabbed his hand. Before leaving, he looked back one last time at that bandstand. Now the memory of it would no longer be one of painful separation, but of a restart ... for both of them.

There, only the books and bottles were forgotten, for the moment unimportant for both of them, now facing a lifetime of happiness that awaited for them together. From then on, it would be many discoveries and many dreams come true.

_The life that couldn’t be lived fully until then, would now be free as long as they both existed._

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [Tumblr](https://mabsgatos.tumblr.com/)  
Find @alendilsama [Here](https://alendilsama.tumblr.com/)  



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